Book preferences of Russians have been revealed: dream books, love spells, religious works

Russians are returning to reading “old school” – paper books – this is noted with satisfaction by representatives of leading Russian book publishing houses. True, domestic bookworms have returned to their roots in an unexpected way – so far, among literature published on paper, demand has increased only for books with religious and esoteric content. We asked bookstore sellers what customers most often ask them, and we were even more surprised.

If you believe the data of Russian publishers and Runet marketplaces, Russians’ demand for religion with esotericism, presented on paper rather than digital pages, has jumped by 40-60% compared to last year. Moreover, the leaders in sales are the Koran, the Bible and… a tarot card interpreter! Since the beginning of the year, on just one online platform they have been sold 36% more than a year ago. Experts represented by publishers and book market analysts believe that in this way a new trend is approaching reading Russia, designed to finally defeat the long-lasting fashion for all sorts of manuals – on psychology, cooking, gardening, repairs and anything from personal development to cleaning floors. But for now, the main Russian publishing giant continues this fashion: in the first half of 2023, sales of psychological manuals increased by 25% compared to the previous one. But even there, various religious works are gaining sales momentum – an increase of 21%. And the leaders are books devoted to the interpretation of the Koran.

“There is nothing surprising in this,” says religious scholar Lala Guliyeva, “there are many Muslims in Russia now, and it’s not enough to read the suras of the Koran; you need to be able to interpret them in relation to your situation.” To do this, they go to the mosque to see the imam, or buy the appropriate book for the house. This is often done for children; in many families it is customary for children to read aloud one or two surahs of the Koran every day on issues that are relevant to them. By the way, among the majority of Muslims, even those who are not very educated, reading is highly respected. If a person reads a book, it means he is smart and people listen to him.

As for Christian books, some experts believe that the reason is that the basics of religions are now taught in schools. Others see the reason in turbulent times when people need support and faith.

“If you look at world statistics, when people turn to religious literature, you can see that this happens during periods of instability,” says Ivan Tkachenko, manager of the publishing house for working with authors. – And if the reader reaches out, then publishing house managers indicate to the authors the emerging trend. For example, I have an author who writes on historical topics. Now I tell her to write fairy tales based on the Bible, because I know that she will be great at it. And demand is only growing.

But what happens “in the fields” – that is, in real bookstores? And, to our great honor, there have been noticeably more of them over the past year. Even those that previously called themselves “unprofitable” opened up. And in the capital, every major shopping center, where on weekends Muscovites and guests of the capital shop and entertain their entire families, certainly has a large bookstore. Let’s go there.

“People started reading and going to the theater again,” a bookseller named Lilia admits the changes. – Of course, partly because there are fewer opportunities for traveling back and forth and intense leisure activities – people have less money. But they don’t skimp on reading and theater, which is nice, although books have also become more expensive. Only brochures with thin covers are cheaper than 500 rubles.

– What do they ask you most often?

– Honestly?

– Preferably. Is something bothering you?

– Well, yes, I just said that people began to read more. I judge this by the fact that they began to buy books from me more often. And not one at a time, but several at once. But now you asked, and I suddenly realized that most often they ask me and buy dream books and fortune telling.

– That is, they don’t read, but sleep and guess?

– Well, no, the dream book and the collection of love spells are also, of course, books. But not quite in the sense that I mean by the word “reading”.

The solution to the phenomenon can be found without much difficulty on the RuNet, precisely in the section devoted to all sorts of esoteric wisdom – fortune telling, love spells, conspiracies and the like. Ladies, and fans of such resources are mostly of the fair sex, discuss that “they no longer use esoteric recipes from the Internet.” I wonder why. Here is the answer.

– Well, everyone can download from the Internet, and everyone uses the same spells, maybe that’s why they don’t work! And I want an exclusive. So I bought a book about 100 ways to rejuvenate using old Russian recipes. Surely no one else will have one like this, I will be the only one who will rejuvenate.

– Why won’t it happen? Is the book in a single copy?

– No, the bookstore is full of them. It’s just that no one buys paper books – they’re hard to carry, they just take up space in your bag and at home.